Kraken parent company Payward has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for approval to operate a national trust company, The Block reported on Thursday.
Payward is seeking to establish Payward National Trust Company through the application.
Payward said it plans to provide regulated, bank-level digital asset custody and trust services to institutional and retail clients through the new entity.
It said it will use existing infrastructure, risk management systems, compliance programmes and regulated affiliates to run the services safely and in line with rules.
Arjun Sethi (아르준 세티), co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, said, "The desirable path for the development of digital assets lies in strong and transparent regulation." He said a national trust company would provide the certainty institutions require and serve as a foundation for building next-generation custody infrastructure.
Earlier, the United States' largest cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase received conditional approval related to a national trust company charter a little over a month ago, and Ripple also received conditional approval.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr